The Legends
by rhymeswithmonth
Summary: Centuries before Sozin's comet, there was a man loved by a goddess,two lovers seperated by years of hate, a child of dragons, and an abandoned baby left for dead. Water, Earth, Fire and Air, the stories of the first benders.
1. Water

The origin of waterbending.

I don't own ATLA

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The ocean has always been the most powerful thing on the planet. The huge expanse of water is larger, deeper, stronger and infinitely more mysterious than anything else on the face of the earth. So the only thing that has ever held any influence over such an awesome entity is naturally, not on the planet.

Four times a day, twice in, twice out, the waters of the ocean succumb to the beauty that is our moon.

The mighty spirit La and his shining counterpart, the goddess Tui. The ocean and the moon, forever circling each other in a never-ending dance.

They were lovers. La was enamored of the only thing that had ever been more power over him. He hated her and loved her and lusted after her. Tui loved everything, so she loved La. She loved him from afar, sending her pure light washing over his being, alighting his black depths with millions of silver sparkles.

But one day, as Tui gazed down at the planet she loved, her light fell across something in the ocean that was not black water or silver glimmers. It was a human called Sangilak and he was caught in a ferocious storm. The canoe he was in bucked and tossed in rough waves.

This was nothing new, for La held little respect for the humans, as weak and helpless as they were, and regarded them as his playthings, often sending storms such as these or floods or ice to see how they could cope.

And this human wasn't doing well. Tui watched in horror as a wave crested and slammed into the doomed vessel, hurling the man into the cold water. He floundered about briefly before sinking below the surface and not reappearing.

Without a second thought, the goddess called upon her influence over water and the human was washed to the nearest piece of land, a tiny stretch of rock that was devoid of any life except for a few dozing turtle-seals.

But the island only stayed above the waterline for part of the day. When the tide came in the sea would reclaim it. And since Tui loved everything, Tui loved the human. So she used her powers to heal the unconscious man and extract the water that had filled his lungs.

When Sangilak opened his eyes, the moon spirit spoke to him and explained his situation, and the man wept, for he was miles from any land and could not swim the distance, so he would surely drown. Tui could not bear to see the human's tears, so she bestowed on him the gift of influence over water so that we could escape the island.

La watched the scene with growing rage, and his rage was great. He was a jealous and closed-minded spirit and did not understand that Tui could not help but love everything. He wanted he affections to belong to only him, so he sent a great wave towards the human in order to wipe him out.

But Sangilak threw out his arms and halted the wave. In disbelief, La sent wave after wave at the tiny island, only to find that none reached their destination. This sent the god into a raging tantrum. He kicked up whirlpools and waterspouts and waves taller then mountains. But the human calmly stepped off the rocks and onto the surface of the water, and the place where his foot touched stilled and froze into ice that shone with the light of the moon.

And Sangilak walked across the ocean and back to his tribe, leaving silver patches of ice that stood out starkly against the darkness of the water.

La sent his rage after the human, but Sangilak fended him off. He built a great wall of impenetrable ice to protect the village, and his tribesmen regarded him a hero. He married the chief's daughter and settled into a comfortable life with their many children, all whom inherited the goddess's gift. They decided to share their talents with the world, and spread out, healing the injured and conjuring rain in times of drought.

Tui watched over her children lovingly, content that she had done the right thing. But La was filled with bitterness, as he had been tamed by the very beings that he had ruled over for so long. But he loved Tui, so he could not totally hate the beings that filled her with so much joy

So when Tui took to a material body in order to be closer to the humans she held so dear, La followed her out of devotion, for his life was incomplete without the beautiful goddess.

But that world ended in fire, and the blood leaked out of Tui's mortal body and stained to water red, as the moon faded out of existence. And La's rage was set free. Free to hate, he shed his mortal skin and reaped his revenge, sparing only the people of water whom his beloved Tui had loved so much.

Only when the world was once again bathed in the moon's pale light did La suppress his fury and return to his body. Tui was gone, but a mortal girl, one who the moon spirit had loved even more then the others had taken her play in the sky. And La grew to love the girl that his dead beloved had viewed as her own child, for he could not exist without her.


	2. Fire

The origin of Firebending

This time I DO own the theory of the origin of dragons. I'm quite happy with it and might write an original story with it.

But I don't own firebending, the fire nation, the sun warriors, Ran and Shao or the "lonely by" (Aang) or the "broken teen" (Zuko)

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Since the creation of the Earth, the dragons lived in the very center of the planet, for they were born of the molten rock and extreme heat. They swam through the magma like the aquatic creatures in the sea above. They had to fixed shape, their bodies being superheated from centuries in their boiling home, and lived off of the minerals in the surrounding magma that they absorbed through their bodies. It was a simple existence, with no predators and everything they needed to survive.

But, as tends to happen with creatures blessed with higher intelligence, not all of the dragons were content in their never-changing world, where time was measured not in minutes or days, but in heartbeats. Particularly a young dragon known as Sol, who had only lived a little over a century in human measure, became curious about the world that he knew was beyond theirs. So he led a small band of other dragons and bored a tunnel through the earths crust and burst into the world above.

The tunnels that marked the dragons' assent allowed lava from their home to leak up into the oceans that spread and cooled to form massive mounds of craggy black rock that jutted up out of the water.

The elder dragons were furious with Sol, for they had forbid him from leaving the Core. In their rage they closed off the holes in the rock, ceasing the lava's flow and sealing the dragons' path home.

At first the young dragons did not think much of it. They were thrilled at their findings and had no desire to return. But before long they grew tired of the barren black landscape and they quickly learned that the surface of the planet was very cold against their fiery bodies. In desperation they sang to their kin in the Core, begging forgiveness. But if the Elders heard their pleas, they did not respond and the miserable band found themselves marooned.

For days the dragons huddled together as rain fell and the ocean spray beat against them. Soon, the dragons were entirely different. Much like how the magma had cooled into rock, their white-hot, fluid-like bodies had hardened into diamond hard scales and tough, leathery skin. Their muscles fused to smooth bones, and their organs melded together and everything became fixed in place. The only piece of their fiery forms that remained was a tiny spark that burned inside dragons's heart. Their inner fire shone out through the beasts' unblinking, golden eyes, making them as heated and intense as fire.

The dragons found that they had long, spindly appendages that protruded from their backs, connected with folds of skin, and that if used correctly, they allowed the dragons to float through the air like they had glided through the magma. Using these wings, the group gave up all hopes of returning home, and ventured forth across the world.

As time passed, they learned how to survive in their new environment. They found the nutrition they needed my digging into the ground with their powerful new claws and devouring rocks that held the same minerals that they had extracted from the magma. But the minerals in the rocks they found were not as pure, and did not sustain them as well. They gradually lost strength and weakened.

Then, the dragons discovered that they could harness the energy that their hearts produced and by concentrating and focusing it, they could release it through their mouths in brilliant jets of fire. By breathing flames onto the rocks, the dragons could condense and heat them to resemble the magma in the Core.

Time passed and the group became accustomed to their life on the surface. With Sol as their King, they began to thrive. They eventually returned to the islands that they had formed, and found them covered by lush rainforest. They chose to stay there, as the climate was hot year around. The dragons bred and eggs were laid and the hatchlings that emerged had the original appearance of dragons, but after a few days they cooled like their parents had all those years ago.

For decades they lived alone on their chain of islands, and their longing to return to the Core faded to just a bad memory. But before long the humans appeared in crude wooden boats, in search of new lands. At first the dragons took little notice of the new creatures, regarding them as any of the other animals they lived alongside. But as the humans settled and made their shelters, it became apparent that their intelligence far surpassed any of the others.

The two species treated each other with a sort of cautious respect. The humans were fearful of the dragons' size and power, while the dragons were weary of the frightening knowledge that they sensed the humans had, and the rate of the humans' development and impact it was having on their home. But the two races managed as peaceful, if not a shaky coexistence.

There was one dragon, a great great grandson of Sol, the original dragon king. He was called Bright, and he had inherited his ancestor's curiosity and knack for trouble. He was became fascinated with the humans, and even went so far as to fall in love with one, something that had never happened before.

She was the youngest daughter of a human lord. She was very beautiful, with flawless ivory skin and silky black hair that trailed to the ground.

One day the girl gave birth to a child, the son of the dragon Bright. He was given the name Agni, after the immortal god of fire. At first glance, the babe looked like any other child his age. He had inherited his mother's beauty, her inky hair and pale skin. But he did not have the dark eyes common of his people, instead he had a dragon's eyes, burning with fire.

As the child matured, it was revealed that he not only possessed his dragon kin's gift of breathing fire, but he also exerted an amount of control over flames that burned in the villages fire pit, and the candles in the temples, and any other flames that burned.

The other humans worshipped the boy, believing him to be the reincarnation of his namesake. And when he came of age, he was named Lord of the Islands known now as the Fire Archipelago, despite the fact that his human uncle was the rightful heir.

To say the least, the uncle was not happy with having his birthright handed to his nephew, who had barley passed into manhood. But there was little he could do, for the dragons dearly loved the half-child, and the uncle didn't dare appose the powerful creatures.

With a half-human, half-dragon ruling the nation, the two species became like one, and the once barren islands flourished. Human cities spread and trade routes were designated with the mainland. Lord Agni was a fair ruler and was much loved by his people for the equality he showed towards the humans and dragon kind alike. He married a human noble and fathered many children, all of whom possessed human features paired with a dragon's heart and abilities, though some more powerful then others. The gift was known as 'Firebending' and all Firebenders were revered as deities.

But after centuries of peace, firebending had become so commonplace, and not unique to the royal family, that the people no longer saw the benders as special. At the same time, respect for the dragons was fading away. The humans began to treat the noble creatures like they treated common labor beasts, taking advantage of their sheer strength and unrivaled endurance by going so far as to use them to pull carriages and transportation between islands.

Because the dragon's memories were much longer then the humans, they endured humiliation after humiliation out of love for their kin.

But they could only take so much. The dragon's greatest fears were realized when Fire Lord Sozin came to the throne. The ambitious man demanded that the dragons aid in his quest to expand Fire Nation territory to the mainland, by forcing the other Kingdomes to surrender to his rule. The dragons refused, and the Fire Lord accused them of betraying their country.

Thus began the massacre of the Dragons.

One by one the dragons were hunted down and brutally slaughtered by the abilities that their ancestor had bestowed upon mankind. They never stood a chance, for they refused to hurt the Firebenders that they so dearly loved, even as their race was being killed off.

Only one group of Firebenders remained true to the dragons, the Sun Warriors watched in horror as their countrymen destroyed the very foundation that their nation had been built upon. The warriors managed to hide the King and Queen of the Dragons, Ran and Shao, away in the centre of their city, away from the bloodshed in the outside world.

Ran and Shao watched from their sanctuary, no longer the monarchs of a magnificent species, but the last surviving members of a dying breed. They watched as their parents and children, their kith and kin were killed. And then watched as their beloved Firebenders waged a bloody war on the rest of humanity. Shut off from the rest of the world, a bitter hatred for the people that had done this to them grew in their hearts.

That is until the day a lonely boy stumbled into their lair and telling of the horrors of the outside world and the now century-old war that still raged. The boy was like them; he had lost his people to the destroying greed of the Firebenders. He was the last of his kind, just like they were. He wanted their help he said, to end the needless bloodshed.

But peeking out from behind the boy was a pair of dragon eyes. The eyes belonged to a broken young man who stared in awe up at Ran and Shao. He was a direct descendent of the first Fire Lord, and therefore of the first Dragon King Sol. The Dragons would have killed him on sight, but looking into his eyes, the painfully familiar eyes that looked so like the eyes of their dead kin; they saw that he was not like the others. He was broken, this Firebender, and not power-hungry like his fellows.

That's how the dragons Ran and Shao fell in love with the human race again, and they watched proudly as the lonely boy and the broken teen stood side by side in front of a world liberated from years of tyranny. But the pair could not leave their sanctuary just yet, for they had something precious to guard, a golden egg lay at the centre of the Ancient Sun Ruins.

-A/N-

it hasn't really been confirmed that Ran and Shao are mates, or if the Sunstone is an egg or not, but I say YES!


	3. Air

Origin of Airbending

I don't own Avatar: the last Airbender, and am making no profit from the following.

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Long ago, in a small village at the foot of a great mountain range, a baby was born.

And as the baby was born, her mother died, and the weak cries of the child were drowned out by the wails of the young mother's family. The woman had been young, not yet out of her teens, and had not been married to the baby's father. He was a humble herd boy from a neighbouring village, and he was also dead, killed by a snow moose-lion just months before.

The babe lay forgotten for the rest of the day, it's cries growing more feeble by the minute, until a cousin of the dead mother thought to take it to her home and give it some chicken-goat milk.

No one knew what to do with the infant. Not only were both of her parents dead, but she was premature and had a deformed leg where the umbilical cord had gotten tangled in the birth. In the village everyone was expected to do their share of the work, be it tending to the animals that were the main source of income, or small jobs like gathering berries and fetching water. Nobody wanted to take in a child who would have to be fed and clothed but who wouldn't be able to earn her keep.

It was the same with the father's family. So one night the dead mother's father took the baby, his granddaughter up the mountain and left her there for the wild animals. In the morning he told anyone who cared to ask that the infant had died in the night and he had buried her beside her mother.

A wild animal did find the child, but not of the kind the grandfather had hoped. A Mother Sky Bison out forging for food to feed her hungry brood of babies came upon the tiny bundle. The gentle beast's maternal instincts took over and she carefully picked up the baby the same way she would carry one of her own calves, and flew off to the nursery den, and plunked the infant between the two newborn Sky Bison.

On a diet of nutrient-rich Bison milk, the baby grew fat and healthy alongside her adoptive brothers. Years passed and she grew into an active and intelligent child, learning the ways of mountain survival from her bison mother. Her animal siblings grew and left the nest long before she did, but the mother showed endless patience at the human's slowness as she taught her everything a young bison needed to know, including their sacred Skylore. From her substitute mom, the girl learned how to read and direct the currents, a crucial skill to protecting oneself from the harsh wind that battered their mountainous home.

One day, when the girl was about six years old, she was limping down the side of the mountain, humming tunelessly. She had one hand buried in the thick fur on her mother's flank, the hulking animal providing a shield against the battering wind. All of a sudden, a skillfully thrown spear whistled through the air and thudded into the bison's side. The great beast threw back her head and bellowed in anguished rage, spinning around blindly to look for her attacker.

As the Sky Bison spun wildly, her great flat tail caught the girl and sent her flying. The child shrieked in terror and pain as her face made contact with a jagged rock.

Strange whoops and harsh yowls echoed around the valley as the group of hunters swarmed the injured Sky Bison and thrust more spears into the poor animal. With one last bellow, the great, shaggy head crashed to the ground, and her pain filled gray eyes glazed over.

The girl knew enough about death to realize what the strange creature had done to her mother. With a high, keening wail, she jumped to her feet, ignoring the blood running down her face, and stumbled toward the fallen beast.

But before she could get very far, one of the hunters caught her by the arm. She scratched wildly, and battered the men with air causing him to let go in surprise. But she was soon caught again, and held down by secure arms, she was carried away from the only home she had ever known.

The hunters that had captured the wild girl belonged to a group of Nomads that wandered the Earth Kingdome. One of the group took the girl in, and he and his wife, who was unable to have a child of her own, gave her food and clothes. They attempted to teach her their strange, fast language and even gave her a human name, Ling.

And Ling did learn. She learned their language, and their ways. she formed bonds within the group and carved out a role for herself as a skilled weaver so that she could earn her keep. But she could never quite forget what had happened on that long-ago day.

Ling grew into a beautiful young woman, and despite her deformed leg and the fact that due to her fall all those years ago, she wore a patch over her right eye, she had many suitors. But to the confusion of the other nomads, she turned each offer down and chose to live alone.

Then, without warning, Ling left the nomadic band and set off alone. She had raised enough money through weaving that she could support herself financially, but instead she chose to travel from village to village, living off the hospitality of the people she met, saving her money.

Along the way she gathered a following of children. Orphans like herself, those unwanted by their families, she cared for them, much like she herself had been taken in by the skybison. Soon she had a little family of children of all ages and backgrounds, and that was when she finally decided to settle down. Ling and her brood returned to the mountain where she had been raised. There, she constructed a makeshift temple using her saved funds to make a place for them to live.

The temple acted as a sort of orphanage/school where Ling taught the children everything she had learned in her time with the bison family, as well as with the nomads. By combining human technology with the bison's Skylore, they developed a way of life that focused on respect and harmony with all the things in the world.

Throughout her long life, Ling established three more air temples and took in nearly one hundred orphaned children. But after a while she stopped being involved with the running of her schools and left matters to the younger airbenders. She disappeared into the mountains with her beloved Skybison, and was never seen again.

-A/N-

Rather abrupt end, but I'm happy with it.

I toyed around with the idea that aribending is _learned _rather then inherited, because we never really see non-bending air nomads, but that's just my thoughts.

Reviews?


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